City Offers $3 Million to End LAPD Raid Lawsuit : Police: Proposed settlement in the Dalton Avenue incident involving 80 officers is the largest of its kind in L.A. history. But some of the plaintiffs say it’s not enough.

Los Angeles has offered $3 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from a raid by more than 80 police officers who stormed and wrecked apartments near the Coliseum and allegedly beat several residents, attorneys for the plaintiffs said.

If the offer in the so-called Dalton Avenue incident is accepted, the settlement “would be the largest of its kind in Los Angeles in my memory,” said City Atty. James K. Hahn.

“It’s obviously a substantial cash offer,” said John Burton, one of 10 attorneys representing the plaintiffs. “We have to consider it very seriously.”

But two of the 55 residents who brought the federal suit indicated late Monday they would not be willing to accept the offer.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” said Onie Palmer, one of the plaintiffs. “My grandmother’s antique Singer sewing machine was tore up so bad, you couldn’t pick up a piece of wood bigger than your hand.

“My pictures of my deceased daughter can’t be replaced. I can’t believe that’s all they want to give us.”

Johnnie Mae Carter, 63, said lawyers for the city and the 71 other defendants--mostly police officers--”are crazy. I’m looking for more than that by myself, alone.”

She said her share of the settlement, about $60,000 if it were evenly divided among the plaintiffs, “would be just enough for me to pay my bills.”

Thomas E. Beck, another attorney representing some residents, said the settlement offer “is a strategic move intended to pressure the plaintiffs’ lawyers to recommend settlement to their clients.”

The offer of $3 million--along with “reasonable” attorney fees and costs--was made under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which allows lawyers to collect only the fees they have earned by the date of the offer, unless they win a larger award after a trial, Beck said.

If the plaintiffs do not win as much as offered, attorneys for the plaintiffs are only entitled to fees accrued as of the date of the offer, attorneys for both sides said.

Beck estimated that attorney fees to date total about $500,000, and additional costs are about $10,000.

He called the offer a ploy designed to “pay us enough money to make us go away and keep us from accruing any more fees.”

Hahn countered that if the offer were a ploy, “we would not have offered what I consider an extraordinary amount.”

“The only ones who win when a case goes on for long-term litigation (are) the attorneys,” the city attorney added. “We think this (offer) is a way to cut off attorney fees.”

The suit grew out of an Aug. 1, 1988, police raid that Police Chief Daryl F. Gates acknowledged afterward “got out of control.”

Using search warrants, a task force of 88 officers from the department’s Southwest Division converged on the apartments in the 3900 block of Dalton Avenue supposedly in search of drugs and suspects in a series of gang-related shootings.

Residents, however, said they were punched and kicked by officers during what those arrested called “an orgy of violence.” Residents reported that officers spray-painted walls with slogans, such as “LAPD Rules.”

They also accused the officers of throwing washing machines into bathtubs, pouring bleach over clothes, smashing walls and furniture with sledgehammers and axes, and ripping an outside stairwell away from one building.

Damage to the apartments was so extensive, the Red Cross offered disaster assistance and temporary shelter to displaced residents--a service normally provided in the wake of major fires, floods, earthquakes or other natural disasters.

Gates determined that 38 officers broke departmental rules, ranging from lying to investigators to damaging property. Nine were brought up on charges before department tribunals, 22 were suspended for up to 22 days without pay and two others resigned.

Misdemeanor charges of vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism are pending against three officers and former Southwest Division Capt. Thomas D. Elfmont. Prosecutors said Elfmont told officers at a roll call before the raid to “level” and “make uninhabitable” the targeted apartments. Elfmont has since been transferred and had his salary reduced.

The settlement offer is neither an admission that the defendants are liable nor that the plaintiffs have suffered any damage, attorneys said. Defendants have 10 days to accept it, and it takes effect only if all agree to it.

Legal observers said awards in the $3-million to $5-million range against police departments have become quite common elsewhere.

But Hahn said the largest local settlement he recalled was the $1.8 million divided between attorneys and plaintiffs in 1984 after they reached an out-of-court settlement with the LAPD in a suit over illegal spying.

A separate lawsuit brought by owners of one building on Dalton Avenue was settled for an undisclosed amount last year, said Paul Berk, an attorney for the owners. A second suit brought by owners of another building is pending.

Times staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.